Do you buy back-ups of limited edition products?

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

Do you buy back-ups of limited edition products? Standard operating procedure or only when you’ve found a holy grail shade/product?

When I first started buying makeup, I bought more back-ups, but after realizing that I never finish anything and there is always something newer and more interesting on the horizon, I am pretty good about now doing so. There are only a few exceptional products that I have bought back-ups for in the past few years, and they’ve been holy grail shades for me (two that I can remember are Guerlain Gems and Chanel Dragon).

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80 thoughts on “Do you buy back-ups of limited edition products?”

Never have before, but I have totally fallen in love with the LE Giorgio Armani waterproof eye pencil in cool brown (02). Had I known when I bought it that I would fall in love with it THIS MUCH, and had I known he wouldn’t release this color every spring (yeah, I know it was released LE, but he re-released the black, so I figured there’d be a repromote of the brown!), I would have bought at least two. Even though I never finish ANYTHING, I can totally see finishing this. Can’t wait to get my hands on the new copper version (05) though!

I’m never a good enough judge of what will make me crazy long term, usually. The one time I went all out and bought a backup of anything LE was when BPAL was coming out with a Berry Moon scent (back then, they were available for only one day, so this was being ordered unsmelled), and wouldn’t you know, I get it and it’s merely all right not awesome.

On the other hand, a regular product that’s become a staple, I wouldn’t bat an eye on grabbing a couple backups if I hear it’s been discontinued. (I don’t know what I’d do if my concealer or mascara faves were d/c’ed…I have a sneaking suspicion I’d be wearing a lot less concealer and mascara.)

Nope, because I know I’ll never really finish anything anyways, and if/when I do there is going to be new stuff that I want! I am a bit more sentimental when it comes to scents. I’d go through a lot to locate a discontinued one if it meant something to me.

I’ll do it for a few 100% HG lip products, where the texture and performance is perfect and the color is unusual enough or the most absolutely flattering, but even then I’ll only get one extra.

No way I’d ever back up a blush or an eye shadow, because I’d never use those up anyways. I DID back up Elude beauty powder from MAC Gareth Pugh as my one exception, because it’s nearly impossible to find a powder that’s that as white and matte, without looking powdering or deadening, even at twice the price. It’s going to take a long time before white matte powder is back in fashion too, so if I waited around, I could be waiting a very long time, since this was never such a mainstream look, even back in the 80’s when it had the most traction. I’m glad I did, even with it being very expensive for MAC, since I’ve been using it every day and have already put a big dent in the first one.

Sometimes. I bought a back up of MAC Marquise’d and Gem of Roses lipsticks. I want a back up of Flamingo badly. I also bought back ups of my favorite Slimshines. Sometimes I even buy backups of products that aren’t ltd. ed. because I’m afraid they’ll be discontinued. I can’t tell you how many products I’ve fallen in love with that have been discontinued.

Regarding MAC LEs, I rarely buy a back-up, as MAC always seems to repromote LEs. I have been known to buy a few LE back-ups because I know that exact product won’t be made again. Brushes seem to be a problem for me. If I like a brush and it is LE, I will usually buy a back-up or 3 because I will be using one, while the other one dries. I’m a sucker for LEs

A really great LE brush is completely worth it! Some of them are weird, like the gimmicky hair on one side tacklon on the other, but I bought a 160 highlighting brush and was back for the last two in 48 hours. Fantastic brushes! And one is highlight, another is blush, the third is in rotation. Real hair brushes in storage attract moths! Use them in rotation or at least use them before sticking in a drawer. Moths don’t care for make up or shampoo. It’s a bit protectant. After Katrina what the water hadn’t gotten mold did- except for many thousands of $$ in paintbrushes. The toxins from oil paint pigments and paint thinner saved them. The one big new pricey brush that was unused? Hairs chewed off.
Make up brushes won’t have total toxins but the moths still won’t like the minerals and stuff. Use em or possibly lose em. Besides, several of something is convenient. I need three 239s to get through a week.

For me everything seemss limited edition because products get discontinued all the time. I panic every time I find a holy grail product, I think the world will end if I ever run out and buy back ups (more than one) hahaha. To be honest by the time I am done with the original I no longer feel so excited about it and then i start worring about it all expiring before I use it ahahaha. I know it will happen every time but I can’t sleep peacefully till I buy the back ups =P.

If you’re not as impressed, or have moved on by then there’s EBay or the Bin on Spectra; Somebody truly pining for it will just worship you for coming through! I’m serious, I found a new in box blush I’d used entirely and was stunned, like a mallet to the head without my go to. Some nice woman was selling off her back ups, match made in Make Up Heaven.

Like you really! Very occasionally I will, if I find something really exceptional,but not as often as I used to. When I started getting into makeup, I would do it a lot more often, but I quickly realised that I wasn’t getting around to using all the stuff because I would find something new in a different collection that I loved. I use to end up giving away/ selling things/ swapping them etc anyway.

i really wish i would’ve bought back ups of Macs Pink friday, it’s the only pink lipstick i absolutely love on myself. it actually looks kind of natural on me D: other than that, no. i’d rather send money on different products i really want, as opposed to buying multiples of things, and having stuff i won’t be using for a while or may never end up using.

How interesting, I used to buy lots of Limited Edition for my shop, but found that it doesn’t sell as well as new lines. I think that although people don’t like change – they just can’t help but try the new products.

no, but i would if the product is reallyyyyyy good and hard to dupe, like a perfect black waterline eyeliner(which i’d finish fast). there’s no point in buying back ups of products you rarely use tho you like them…they will expire till you finish them=waste

I did this only two times, when Peachstock came out with Mac me Over ’cause I had missed it with Liberty of London. Even though it is a permanent PRO shade, I have no Mac PRO anywhere near where I live ’cause I literally am isolated (living in an island sometimes is very frustrating). I found that Peachstock was my perfect nude shade with that tiny tinge of orange and I fell in love with it, so I got a backup. The second time was with Glitter and Ice, with the Such Flare! lipstick. It is the most long-lasting red I’ve ever tried on my lips. Literally almost no re-application for me during the whole time I’m wearing it. Had to get an emergency backup for this tone ’cause I really love wearing reds ^^

Yes, I’ve done it. With MAC vv collection, I bought 1 back-up of innocence beware, I am now on the second tube, but you are right, I didn’t need it, since I finish the 1st so fast I still have the 2nd pretty much new, and now is going to be repromote it, and creme d’ nude and hue are a lot like it.

I only really buy back-ups if something is really really special and I know I’ll get through it with regular wear. Other than that I tend only to keep back-ups of must-haves in my professional kit. If I lose something on a job or if something breaks I know I have a spare.

I generally don’t buy back ups of limited edition items since I also rarely finish items. I only buy back ups of things that I really love and would be upset if they ran out. I have a back up for an OPI by sephora nail polish from the glee collection in slushied….I love blue nail polishes but my hubby doesn’t really like them and that was the first one he liked. I also have a back up if the Urban Decay 15th anniversary eyeshadow palette.

I have only ever bought two back-ups which were MAC Marine Life (got sucked into the hype on that one) & Viva Glam Gaga 2 – I don’t plan on buying back-ups of anything in the future. Like you said there is always something new and exciting to replace it!

Nope – almost never. I will occasionally buy a second copy of something to keep in my travel makeup bag, or one for my purse and one for home. I also have several identical brushes, but they’re really useful for doing my makeup.

Hi, Emily. I do the same. I don’t consider it as buying a back-up, though. I feel like if you’re using it in the moment then it’s not because you are using it up. It’s really nice to have duplicate brushes. Comes in handy if one is dirty or wet, or if you use the same brush daily, but for different purposes.

I never buy back-ups. Styles, colors, finishes, textures, innovations in formulation, changes in application are constantly evolving. Women who cling to passé products tend to look dated which can translate into looking older :-(. As we change in appearance and life style, so should our cosmetics.

I once bought a back up of MAC “Myself” lipstick and actually rationed it lol it was my favorite nude lipstick and i recently replaced it with the Revlon Lip Butter “Creme Brulee” other then that no and i probably wont do that again

On occasion. I have a backup of Lightscapade I may sell off cause I don’t think I’ll go through it fast enough. I also bought a backup of MAC Blingblack when I found some at a CCO store. I also got two tubes of Chanel Dragon after it had been DCed, but they were a present from my mom. Thanks mum!

well i just started so that’s why i do it. i m getting better at stopping. i bought 2 coromandels yesterday for 80 bucks (including 15 bucks shipping from san fran to houston), i have backup of vgv, gat, mac studio fix powder i found at cco. my cco is only 10 miles away so i hold off buying stuff at regular mac unless i absolutely want it. mac can’t get enough, chanel dragon, chanel phoenix, and i think a couple of other things. if they repromote mac msf in petticoat, i’ll buy back up of that, althoughi haven’t used much of what i have. yes i m trying to stop buying back ups, they aren’t worth it.

I’ve never bought back ups of LE items because I have yet to discover an LE product that has become a TRUE HG for me. I know that there’s always similar colors coming onto the market (*cough mac*) and there’s always something new to try. Most of us with enough makeup to last multiple lifetimes rarely end up finishing a product let alone using backups. Hence why backups always seem to turn up in blogsales and swaps.

I bought 3 bottles of Escada’s Island kiss and I’m now at my 2nd bottle. I also bought a back up of a Pop Beauty bronzer when I knew Sephora was going to stop carrying the line. I got some HG eye pens as well but they are not LE. That’s it ! But I buy backups not because I will finish the product but more coz I’m afraid to lose them !

No, but I should’ve backed up Refined Deeper Bronze bronzer from MAC, by the time I found out it was discontinued it was too late. Nothing in MAC’s range has that same gorgeous bronze/burnt orange pigmentation with the perfect amount of shimmer.

Very rarely. I have a back up of Lollipop Lovin’ Lipstick, Redhead MSF, and Blackfire Glimmerglass as they are all my favourites. I should’ve known I would never go through a whole lipstick but I’m almost through the Glimmerglass and excited to open a nice fresh one. Shhh, 2009 wasn’t THAT long ago and it smells like vanilla still. I’m gross, haha.

Nope, I don’t see the point. I feel like it’s just hoarding and taking away from someone else who might have wanted that same product, but “x” person had to go buy the product and 5 backups that they will probably never use. I just don’t think there’s any cosmetic that’s really that special. Makeup is always coming in and going out regardless of limited status, so at some point a suitable substitute will come along. Plus, makeup, even sealed makeup isn’t supposed to just hang around all that long.

Overall, I just don’t get it. I don’t knock anyone who does, but to me I can’t find a point to doing it, so I don’t. The only products I finish quickly are mascaras, eye liners, and lip stuff. In my opinion, those are things that aren’t going to be all that special or unique, so they’d be easy to replace. Besides products get repromoted or duped all the time.

Same here. I think i did long time ago but i either returned them or swapped them away. My taste changes and theres always the next best thing esp. for LE. I do feel bad not getting the laura mercier highlighter but guerlain came out with a great one too so that confirms that theres always the next best thing.

That is probably because you get sent products and see no reason to purchase any products with your own money. I’m not trying to be rude, I’m being honest. I get sent products also and I would never buy back up’s of products that someone sends me because just like you said, there are a ton more products out there and you wouldn’t use all the product anyway because companies are constantly sending out products for you to review and it’s no bother to you if you run out because you didn’t buy it anyway.

I never do. When it comes to blushes, bronzers, highlighters or eyeshadows, I never get through them quickly enough to warrant having a backup. I can see getting a backup of a lipstick or lipgloss because I go through those faster, but I have yet to find one that made me want a back up.

I don’t buy backups because I would rather spend the money I would have spent on backups to buy different products. Besides, what I consider HG changes so often that if I bought backups I’d probably be sick of the product before finishing the one I initially bought.

I bought an outrageous number of Pearlglides from MAC Art Supplies; Five or Six Designer Purple pencils and a few Undercurrents; I used them up too! Pencils, maybe lipglass are so worth it! Blushes and Beauty Powders? Things will have changed so much by the time I dent them… why bother. I wish I’d backed up… there’s a list. Port Red lipstick! Re releases of the best things are often enough to go along but how many years has it been on that? The red you can wear with a zit on your nose and still look great! Why isn’t a marvel like that re released in four years? Queens Sin!!
Hey MAC, let’s have an Obscuritease Collection with all the old things everybody still pines for.

No. I just buy them if I like them and when I’m out, I’m out. I’ll look for a dupe if I absolutely loved it but I am not buying multiples of one product when many of the companies come out with newer, better stuff all the time!

Just recently I’ve come to the realization that Christine has… and in the future will not be buying backups at all. In fact, I’d love to sell some of the things I do have! Why do I have two back ups each of Get Away Bronze, Jazzed, and Party Parrot? I have no idea LOL Lesson learned!

I bought a backup of Color Club Worth the Risque because I had been looking for a silver holo for FOREVER! I also got a backup of the Urban Decay Rollergirl Palette because it was on sale, it was during the Sephora F/F sale, and I use it almost everyday!

I only have back ups of 3 products… MAC Ever Hip lipstick, I just love the way this color looks on me and the finish of it, it’s the perfect pinky coral shade for spring. MAC Feline eye kohl just because the last time it was re-promoted I didn’t know they would be making it a permanent. And Essie Footloose nail polish it’s my absolute favorite nail polish ever, I’ve heard they are discontinuing it and every time I find a bottle I buy one… I’ve turned many of my friends on to this color so I end up giving some away also.

When I was 15 my mom and I picked up a few things for me at MAC and then i went away to a small college town so anyways wasnt interested in makeup and didn’t step foot into MAC again until last year at 23 years old and I bought 3 gaga lipsticks thinking OMG its HG and limited. Well turns out like everything for them is LE lol. LE kinda turns me off b/c it makes me feel like a dumb consumer that has to run out and buy buy buy. I’d rather a company create solid permanent items. Works out well for me because most LE items are not something I’d normally wear.

I do wish I would have bought another 226. So yes i would buy only 1 backup but by the time I’m in love it’s probably too late.

Yes!! Especially of things I’ve fallen in love with and use daily…even if it’s not LE, because the moment I am completely out of it I like to know that I have brand new one waiting for me in my back up bin. Is it bad that I have a back up bin?

Yes, all of the time. Especially when it comes to purple lip products, Like MAC’s “All of My Purple Life” lip glass or the Lime Crime Carousel lip gloss in “Kaleidoscope”. It’s hard to find lip products that are a true purple; I have found that most permanent products are like fuschia masquerading as purple. So, yes, I buy back ups of limited edition purple glosses and lipsticks all of the time.

Before I used to buy way 2 back-ups of LE lipsticks and paint pots. I have 2 Chanel Rose Tourbillon powder blush, 1 of which would probably take me forever to finish as I get tired of using one shade everyday. Now I only buy if 1 of each so I could try as much shade as I can.

nope. (chuck testa haha)
I’ve never bought a back up, because I never use up the originals with all the makeup I have, and I don’t have a job, (I’m 14) so sometimes I can’t even get some of the other stuff I want from a collection, let alone a back up of a product I already spent money on once.